Blog - reading womenhttps://www.readingwomenpodcast.com/blog/Thu, 16 May 2019 18:19:27 +0000en-USSite-Server v6.0.0-897-897 (http://www.squarespace.com)Meet the Team | JoceArticlesReading WomenFri, 13 Sep 2019 12:00:00 +0000https://www.readingwomenpodcast.com/blog/2019/08/28/meet-the-team-joce58435fdf37c581d99d8c1f43:5872f28d8eaa89f320593d84:5d7307c535286e232dfb34b7Joce is a Booktuber on her channel squibblesreads (on a hiatus, but will be
back soon!), and a co-blogger at The Quiet Pond. She is an advocate for
diversity and representation in books. Lately, she's been hanging out with
her beautiful 5 month old daughter and loving motherhood. Her hobbies
include calligraphy, running, weightlifting, and makeup. If she's not at
Disneyland, she's probably destroying the patriarchy or taking a nap.

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Blog

Podcast

Reading is my favorite mode of transportation. I can go anywhere I want, anytime I want. I have learned so much about people from different parts of the world and from other worlds through reading that I may otherwise have never had the chance to because of the cost of travel, and of course, because of the lack of travel accessibility to fantasy worlds.

As a trauma survivor, reading about things that may be upsetting provides me a space to confront my triggers at my own pace and distance if I choose to do so. Books also provide me space to escape if I have been presented with too many triggers in real life. I have worked through many of the feelings and thoughts of my trauma through reading and reframing.

What book or series got you into reading?

The very first book I remember reading is Love You Forever by Robert Munsch, and it’s also the very first book I gave to my husband and daughter. When I was in elementary school, I also used to borrow cookbooks from the library and read them for fun. My favorite recipes were the ones that included a backstory, about family and friends or a trip that the author took. It was no coincidence that my favorites were all dessert!

When did you start reading?

I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t reading. I have a very vivid memory of visiting my mother’s workplace when I was 3 or 4 years old and reading a book about Tom and Jerry aloud to a conference room of her coworkers. They were all enthralled, of course.

Where do you read?

Everywhere! However, the bulk of my reading is done on audiobook during my commute to and from work, which totals about two hours every day. I wouldn’t be able to read nearly as much if it weren’t for audiobooks.

What kind of books do you like to read?

I read very widely but I tend to gravitate towards realistic fiction by and about women of color. Recently, ownvoices WOC romances, such as books by Jasmine Guillory, Alexis Daria, and Helen Hoang, have been a great escape.

For you, why is it important to read books by or about women?

Throughout school, our required reading was made up of books by and about men. I always wondered why we never read books written by women, and I do not want any girl going through school to have the same experience—one of never being seen or heard in the curriculum. Now I realize that this issue needs to be tackled from all angles: what publishers choose to promote, what books are pitched, what bookstores display, and what school administrators and teachers choose. It is so important to shout these titles from the rooftops.

What types of books are you looking forward to sharing on Reading Women?

I would love to share lesser-known books that include themes I gravitate toward and identify with. These include books by and about Asian and Asian American women and books about mental health and motherhood.

What most excites you about joining the RW team?

The Reading Women team is made up of intelligent, diverse, well-read women whom I admire and am so happy to be working, reading, and sharing with. I am excited to uplift marginalized voices and bring fresh eyes to books that should have had more publicity. I am proud to be on a team that champions and respects intersection of identities within womanhood and celebrating these identities through promoting books, authors, and creators.

About Joce

Joce is a Booktuber on her channel squibblesreads (on a hiatus, but will be back soon!), and a co-blogger at The Quiet Pond. She is an advocate for diversity and representation in books. Lately, she's been hanging out with her beautiful baby daughter and loving motherhood. Her hobbies include calligraphy, running, weightlifting, and makeup. If she's not at Disneyland, she's probably destroying the patriarchy or taking a nap.

Author Bio

Kira Jane Buxton’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, NewYorker.com, McSweeney’s, The Rumpus, Huffington Post, and more. She calls the tropical utopia of Seattle home and spends her time with three cats, a dog, two crows, a charm of hummingbirds, and a husband. HOLLOW KINGDOM is her debut novel.

Currently Reading

About Our Guest

Mallory Whiteduck is from Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg. She is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on Indigenous literature and Native women’s life writing. You can find her bookstagram @nativegirlsreading and her twitter @mymoccasins.

]]>Ep. 73 | Indigenous Women Writers from Around the WorldMeet the Team | Bezi YohannesArticlesReading WomenFri, 30 Aug 2019 11:00:00 +0000https://www.readingwomenpodcast.com/blog/2019/08/28/meet-the-team-bezi-yohannes58435fdf37c581d99d8c1f43:5872f28d8eaa89f320593d84:5d6707c77f8b02000141c132Bezi is a graduate student at Georgetown University, where she’s finishing
her second degree in English Literature. After pursuing her love for
fantasy fiction and studying medieval legends, she decided to focus on the
ways that black female protagonists in mainstream fantasy intervened in
Eurocentric genre tropes. When she’s not reading for her thesis, she’s
watching natural hair Youtube tutorials or spending too much money at
Target. She currently lives in northern Virginia outside of Washington,
D.C., and she aspires to work in publishing in New York.

Features

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I love that reading can push the furthest limits of my imagination, and the act of reading is often a peaceful escape from the craziness of the real world. But reading also empowers me by giving me the language to describe the world in which I live. Not only do books help me understand my own identity, emotions, and struggles, but I can also glimpse experiences that are very different from mine.

What book or series got you into reading?

When I was seven years old, my uncle bought me The Chronicles of Narnia box set, and he spent an evening reading me the first few chapters of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Even though I had enjoyed reading before that, hearing that story read aloud was the first time I realized how much I loved immersing myself in the magical worlds that books create.

When did you start reading?

I’ve been reading since I was pretty young, so I don’t know if I can pinpoint any specific time. As a kid, when I didn’t have my nose in an actual book, I used to stop and read every single thing we saw, from cereal boxes in the store, to street signs, to manhole covers. (My parents were, understandably, not happy about this.)

Where do you read?

Mostly during my commute, but I also love reading over breakfast or treating myself to a lunch out and reading at the table. When I was in school, I used to sneak books into class and read under the table (not that I recommend this, since I now teach).

What kind of books do you like to read?

When I’m reading for fun, I focus on fantasy, speculative fiction, and contemporary literary fiction. I also have a soft spot for epic, sweeping romance. I did start reading more nonfiction recently because I found such intriguing books in my graduate research, but I still read more broadly in fiction than I do in nonfiction.

For you, why is it important to read books by or about women?

I firmly believe that representation is some of the most important work that books can do. Going back to why I said I love reading, I was always looking for ways to see myself in the books I was reading, but unfortunately that reflection was often cracked and distorted in books by white men. Their imagination didn’t necessarily encompass the multifaceted aspects of my identity and of girls who looked like me. At the time, I related more to complex girls like Meg from A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle and Nia from So You Want To Be a Wizard by Diane Duane because they taught me that girls could be nerdy and stubborn and good-hearted and contradictory. It wasn’t until much later in life, reading authors such as Toni Morrison and N.K. Jemisin, that I understood the power in books to put words to both my gender and racial identity. For me, the importance of reading women is inseparable from the importance of reading women of color. Women’s voices are often marginalized in literature, and women of color marginalized even further, and these are the stories young girls like me needed to hear. Women’s stories and the stories of marginalized people make the world a more colorful and truthful place.

What types of books are you looking forward to sharing on Reading Women?

I’m looking forward to sharing more black and African fantasy, as well as Afrofuturist novels. But in general, I hope to amplify Black women’s stories, whether that’s contemporary narratives or Black girl-centered magical worlds.

What most excites about joining the RW team?

I’m excited to learn more about different genres of women’s stories from the amazing women on this team and to help readers find books that they otherwise may not have heard of. I’m also excited to emphasize the importance of fantasy and speculative fiction as women telling their own stories just as much as in any other genre. I believe the worlds women imagine are hugely generative for some of the most exciting analysis.

Bezi Yohannes

Bezi is a graduate student at Georgetown University, where she’s finishing her second degree in English Literature. After pursuing her love for fantasy fiction and studying medieval legends, she decided to focus on the ways that black female protagonists in mainstream fantasy intervened in Eurocentric genre tropes. When she’s not reading for her thesis, she’s watching natural hair Youtube tutorials or spending too much money at Target. She currently lives in northern Virginia outside of Washington, D.C., and she aspires to work in publishing in New York.

Translator Bio

Tina Kover is the award-winning translator of Négar Djavadi's Disoriental as well as many other works of classic and contemporary fiction and nonfiction including Anna Gavalda's Life, Only Better, Adélaïde Bon's The Little Girl on the Ice Floe, and the landmark 1867 novel Manette Salomon by Edmond and Jules de Goncourt. She has been named a Translation Fellow by the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts and was a finalist for the National Book Award and the PEN Translation Award in 2018. Her translation of the Goncourt Prize-winning Older Brother by Mahir Guven is forthcoming from Europa Editions.

Author Bio

Madhuri Vijay was born and raised in Bangalore. She is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, and her writing has appeared in Best American Non-Required Reading, Narrative Magazine and Salon, among other publications. The Far Field is her first book.

Guest Picks

Currently Reading

About Joce

Joce is a Booktuber on her channel squibblesreads (on a hiatus, but will be back soon!), and a co-blogger at The Quiet Pond. She is an advocate for diversity and representation in books. Lately, she's been hanging out with her beautiful 5 month old daughter and loving motherhood. Her hobbies include calligraphy, running, weightlifting, and makeup. If she's not at Disneyland, she's probably destroying the patriarchy or taking a nap.

]]>Ep. 71 | Chronic Illness and Mental HealthInterview | Sujata MasseyAuthor InterviewReading WomenWed, 31 Jul 2019 12:03:00 +0000https://www.readingwomenpodcast.com/blog/interview-with-sujata-massey58435fdf37c581d99d8c1f43:5872f28d8eaa89f320593d84:5d3a35376c85f80001b9dcbaAutumn and Kendra talk with Sujata Massey about her new book The Satapur
Moonstone, which is out now from Soho Crime.

Autumn and Kendra talk with Sujata Massey about her new book The Satapur Moonstone, which is out now from Soho Crime.

Author Bio

Sujata Massey is the author of fifteen novels and story collections, many of which are in audio and e-book as well as paper formats. Her Perveen Mistry series includes 2018’s The Widows of Malabar Hill, which won the Mary Higgins Clark award, the Agatha prize for Best Historical Fiction, and the Bruce Alexander Historical Fiction prize. Its follow-up, The Satapur Moonstone, is also set in 1920s India and was published in May 2019. Sujata's older books feature Rei Shimura, a Japanese-American amateur sleuth in modern Tokyo. Sujata lives with her family in Baltimore, Maryland, and is a frequent visitor to Mumbai and other parts of India. Find out more at sujatamassey.com

]]>Interview | Sujata MasseyInterview for IGTV | Jessica HandlerAuthor InterviewReading WomenFri, 26 Jul 2019 12:00:00 +0000https://www.readingwomenpodcast.com/blog/interview-with-jessica-handler58435fdf37c581d99d8c1f43:5872f28d8eaa89f320593d84:5d37cb577efe1200015e42fbThis interview was originally recorded for IGTV, which you can find over on
Reading Women's Instagram account @thereadingwomen. A special thanks to Hub
City Book Shop for hosting us. And thanks to Jessica for sitting down with
me to chat about her book The Magnetic Girl.

Hub City Press, 2019

This interview was originally recorded for IGTV, which you can find over on Reading Women's Instagram account @thereadingwomen. A special thanks to Hub City Book Shop for hosting us. And thanks to Jessica for sitting down with me to chat about her book The Magnetic Girl.

Author Bio

Jessica Handler is the author of Braving the Fire: A Guide to Writing About Grief and Invisible Sisters: A Memoir, which was named one of the “Twenty Five Books All Georgians Should Read” and Atlanta Magazine’s “Best Memoir of 2009.” Jessica writes essays and nonfiction features that have appeared on NPR, in Tin House, Drunken Boat, Full Grown People, Brevity, Newsweek, The Washington Post, and More Magazine.

It was a mess. When the British ended their 200 years of colonial rule, the Indian subcontinent was chaotic, bloody and hungry. The year was 1947. New borders were drawn in haste by a barrister (Radcliffe) who had never visited India before. Land was divided and the people had to choose (not much of a choice, really) a new home, based on their religion. Muslims journeyed to West and East Pakistan (East Pakistan is now Bangladesh) and Hindus aggregated in the new India. Refugees poured in, and out. They arrived crammed on trains, bullock carts, trucks, a few by air or ship, many on foot. Some stayed back, of course. The statistics are shocking—12 million people migrated, more than 1 million were dead, largely due to communal violence, 75 - 100 thousand women were abducted, raped and killed. Women, like in the wars of olden days, were collateral material. Hindu women were forcibly converted, abducted and raped. Muslim women were raped in public and killed for revenge.

Here comes the importance of partition literature, to inform the unimaginable horrors that followed a shattered country. The classics of Partition literature written by women include Ice Candy Man by Bapsi Sidhwa(Summaiyya talks more about it on Ep. 69 of Reading Women), Pinjar by Amrita Pritam, and Zindaginama by Krishna Sobti. The Britishers left us with free countries, but not before sprinkling religious intolerance that always settled, like fine dust, its effects seen to this very day. And we read, to know more, and hope that history never repeats itself.

Largely set in the inner courtyard of the house where women gather to gossip and trivial squabbles bubble, the novel follows Aliyah in the 1940s. There are toxic women, men disappointed by their political ideologies and educated, career-driven women. The Mastur sisters were called the “Brontes of Urdu literature” (more so because of their sorrowful lives), and Khadija Mastur’s novel is delightfully feministic, painful, and gives a single woman the agency to define her life.

One more by Mastur in this list because she captures the mutilated reality of Partition so brilliantly. A Promised Land, starts with the aid committee distributing ‘split chickpea dal and soft, warm, rotis’ in the Walton Camp, where Aliyah of The Women’s Courtyardworked. Our new heroine is Sajidah, the year 1947, in Lahore. Sajidah and Taji are abducted to a house, but the former is spared sexual abuse because she is educated. I love this more than The Women’s Courtyardbecause its urgent, brutal narration feels like being scalded in hot oil. Mastur notes women were always behind regressive patriarchal households, before and after the Partition, through a wife who gets beaten for dowry, recurring abortions of a raped ‘tramp’ maid, corrupt bureaucrats, shoddy refugee rehabilitations and unlawful property amassments.

When Punjab was partitioned, it could not be divided in a way that would satisfy Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs residing there. A letter, a necklace, a utensil; sometimes that’s the only thing smuggled into a new, strange land. What crosses your mind when a train full of dead bodies (a recurring scene) arrives at the station where you are planning to flee from? Aanchal has presented a wonderful report of the nostalgia-soaked generation, those proud of their new land, the longing and anguish, sometimes relief; of people who hail from present day India and Pakistan, rich and poor, men and women. This collection of real-life essays of hurried night journeys, and abandoned houses had me weeping uncontrollably.

The orphaned Laila is brought up in an orthodox, talukdari (aristocratic land owners) family comprising her grandfather and aunts. The family, and hence Laila, follow the purdah system which means women maintain separate quarters. But when the patriarch dies, his son, Hamid (supposedly liberal but actually authoritarian), takes the reigns of the house and things change (for good or worse). The novel, similar to Hosain’s own life, traces the history of Lucknow from 1932 to 1952. Trivia: Hosain is grand-aunt to British novelist, Kamila Shamsie.

The Das siblings grow up in the 1940s with absentee parents (bridge addict, Mr. Das, and narcissistic Mrs. Das). Daily life gets complicated in the post-Independence period—death visits the family, debates on Hindu vs Muslim colleges arise, and the fascination of a Das (Raja) to Urdu poetry and his landowner’s Muslim daughter is unwelcome. The overburdened oldest, Bim, an anxiety ridden Tara, a mentally challenged Baba and a widowed, alcoholic aunt add colour to the novel. Shifting between 1947 and the 1970s, Desai highlights how a historical event and unfamiliar political and cultural principles can disintegrate a middle-class Bengali family and subject it to long lasting consequences.

Indian Summer looks at the history of the subcontinent and the last days of the British Raj through a few key characters who played an important role. This is the book you might like if you want to indulge in the partition like a bed time story, not as horribly bloody, yet tragic. There is the scandalous relationship between Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India and Edwina, wife of Lord Mountbatten, the persuasive Jinnah, founder of Pakistan, the unrelenting Gandhi, leader of the masses and the last Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten. Love affairs, a marriage, and bitter enmity seeps into the partition story, whose far fledged effects cause havoc even today.

The inexperienced Radcliffe fled from India before the Radcliffe line, that marked the new boundaries, was formally revealed, destroying his papers and exclaiming, “There will be roughly 80 million people with a grievance who will begin looking for me. I do not want them to find me.” But we find what he may have feared, in the words of these writers.

Photo Used with Permission

About Resh

Resh Susan is a Mumbai-based writer. She eats words, cooks stories and indulges in photographs. You can find her on Twitter and her blog.

]]>Guest Post | More Partition Books by WomenInterview | Oyinkan BraithwaiteAuthor InterviewReading WomenWed, 17 Jul 2019 10:00:00 +0000https://www.readingwomenpodcast.com/blog/interview-with-oyinkan-braithwaite58435fdf37c581d99d8c1f43:5872f28d8eaa89f320593d84:5d2a56a3d701760001b2f419Autumn and Kendra talk with Oyinkan Braithwaite about her new book My
Sister, the Serial Killer, which is out now from Doubleday.

Autumn and Kendra talk with Oyinkan Braithwaite about her new book My Sister, the Serial Killer, which is out now from Doubleday.

Author Bio

Oyinkan Braithwaite is a graduate of Kingston University in Creative Writing and Law. Following her degree, she worked as an assistant editor at Kachifo Limited, a Nigerian publishing house, and as a production manager at Ajapaworld, a children's educational and entertainment company. She now works as a freelance writer and editor. In 2014, she was shortlisted as a top-ten spoken-word artist in the Eko Poetry Slam, and in 2016 she was a finalist for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. She lives in Lagos, Nigeria.

]]>Interview | Oyinkan BraithwaiteGuest Post | 4 Romance Novels Perfect for SummerGuest PostReading WomenFri, 12 Jul 2019 16:00:00 +0000https://www.readingwomenpodcast.com/blog/2019/07/12/4-romance-novels-for-summer58435fdf37c581d99d8c1f43:5872f28d8eaa89f320593d84:5d27f43d522339000195fdf3Welcome back, friends :)
Today we are talking about romance novels full of summer fun so grab an ice
coffe or some gellato and remember to put on sunscreen. Tell me where do
you wish to spend your vacation and I will gladly recomend the perfect book
for you.

In honor of the summer reading season, we asked Agata, the queen of romance recommendations, to share some novels perfect for your TBRs.

Today we are talking about romance novels full of summer fun so grab an iced coffee or some gellato and remember to put on sunscreen. Tell me where do you wish to spend your vacation and I will gladly recommend the perfect book for you.

What do you do when you need a break but can't afford a holiday? You ask your coworker to accompany you on a reality show as your fake boyfriend to score a Carribean island getaway, obviously. This novella is full of fluffy goodness yet it doesn't shy away from talking about mental health, because our heroine deals with anxiety. Did I mention that she is a fabulous fat woman not ashamed to wear swimsuits? It's simply swoontastic to see the hero so far gone for her he offers the most romantic nerdy love confession of all time. You will appreciate Olivia's writing for challenging toxic masculinity.

Pride month may be over but consider this your gentle reminder to support queer books all year around. Start with this beautiful story of affection blossoming between an astronomer commissioned to translate a scientific text and a countess who finds joy in embroidery. It's a reclaiming of queer women's rightful place in history but also a celebation of their contributions to society. The prose is exquisite and the romance soft. Plus Avon blessed us with that gorgeous cover art so no wonder this is a buzzy title.

Listen, I get it. Sometimes we all want to escape into an alternative magical world. Imagine Prohibition-era New York where a reclusive antiquarian is asked to use his powers to help retrieve a supernatural amulet that could bring about the apocalypse. Not only is the worldbuilding fascinating and the ensemble cast terrific but we get nuanced representation of a biracial protagonist. Can't wait for the sequel!

Poor Clementine. All she wanted was to enjoy some quiet time to work on her audiobook narration. Being the only introvert in a big family of loud extroverts isn't easy. Luckily a friendly bartender agrees to be her fake boyfriend for a week to keep the choas and noise at bay. This story asks interesting questions about allowing yourself to be defined by past mistakes and what makes partners compatible. Shenanigans include seduction via reading sexy stories out loud, craft beers plus ridiculous family games.

A Secret Desire by Kaia Danielle - a widow struggling to revitalise a beach resort for black people gets unexpected help from a man who nurtured a crush on her for years. This is the second book in Decades: A Journey of African American Romance series.

Escape to Pirate Island by Niamph Murphy - a swashbuckling tale of a smuggler and a lady who inherited a treasure map embarking on an epic transatlantic adventure.

Sincerely hope this tiny list brought a smile to your face. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter (@Aqueda_Veronica) if you are looking for personalized romance recomendations, I am always happy to be of assistance in exchange for cute puppy photos :)

You are also welcome to subscribe to a tiny letter we send out once a month with a group of my friends talking about upcoming romance publications. Read the previous issues in the archive.

About Agata

Agata can be found tweeting about romance novels and cute baby animals while eating obscene amounts of dark chocolate over at @Aqueda_Veronica.

Currently Reading

About Veera

Veera Hiranandani is the author of The Night Diary (Kokila), which received the 2019 Newbery Honor Award, the 2019 Walter Dean Myers Honor Award and the 2018 Malka Penn Award for Human Rights in Children's Literature. The Night Diary has been featured on NPR's Weekend Edition, is a New York Times Editor's Choice Pick,and was chosen as a 2018 Best Children's Book of the Year byThe New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, Amazon, School Library Journal, and Kirkus Reviews, among others. She is also the author of The Whole Story of Half a Girl (Yearling), which was named a Sydney Taylor Notable Book and a South Asian Book Award Finalist, and the chapter book series, Phoebe G. Green (Grosset & Dunlap). She earned her MFA in fiction writing at Sarah Lawrence College. A former book editor at Simon & Schuster, she now teaches creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College's Writing Institute and is working on her next novel.

About Lupita

Lupita Aquino—better known as Lupita Reads—is the co-founder and co-moderator for LIT on H St Book Club hosted at Solid State Books and is a passionate reader active in both the local and online book community through her Instagram blog - @Lupita.Reads.

As an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher, I am always searching for books that my students and I can enjoy together. I want to get to know my students better through the books I read, and I want them to be able to see themselves in books. I have found that stories written in verse are a perfect fit for us. Poetry is rich in theme, language, and emotional connections while the abbreviated length and minimal grammatical structure make it more easily accessible to my students. It has been a boon in recent years to find so many free verse books written from the diverse cultural perspectives that my students can relate to. Here are six of my favorites that are perfect for children and adults alike.

Inside Out and Back Again is the perfect story for the ESL classroom. The author, Thanhha Lai, was herself an immigrant to the United States after the Vietnam War, and she poignantly tells this tale of a family that must flee their home country knowing they’ll never be able to return. The children in the story experience sadness, culture shock, and discovery as they learn to survive and then thrive in their new home, school, and community.

The subtitle, Voices from the Panama Canal, perfectly sums up the message of Silver People. In it Margarita Engle gives voice to the forgotten men recruited from the islands of Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico to provide the manual labor for the building of the Panama Canal and the local women and forest creatures that were so greatly affected by its construction. This is an important title that provides a much needed perspective on the social and environmental impact of progress.

Part one of The Red Pencil presents a lovely sense of family and culture in the Sudan. Amira and her family are completely charming, so when war devastates their tiny community, the reader is left with a heightened sense of all that was lost. After a traumatic journey across a war torn country and time spent in a refugee camp, Amira is gifted with a small red pencil and finally begins to find her voice once more. The story is enhanced with illustrations that reflect the world that Amira experiences and mirror her own love of artistic expression.

Caminar is another story of children coping with war. This one is set in the civil conflict in the mountains of Guatemala in the 1980’s. Carlos is shocked to realize that he is the only survivor when his village is attacked. As he begins the trek farther up the mountain to his grandmother’s village, he meets a group of young guerilla soldiers and realizes that they are not so very different from himself. The poems in this book experiment with the structure of words on the page to heighten tension and help the reader visualize the effects of war.

Red Butterfly is set during the one child policy in China in the 1980’s. A baby girl born with a deformed hand is abandoned at birth and taken in by an elderly American woman who cares for her deeply and unconditionally at great expense to her family back home. When governmental policies tear their small family apart, Kara must learn to live a new life and eventually find happiness with a new adopted family in the United States.

Veda is consumed with dance and determined to make a career out of this passion. On the way home from winning her first dance contest, she is injured in a bus accident and has to have her right leg amputated below the knee. In A Time to Dance, Veda realizes how much her family loves and supports her and how much she believes in herself. It is also a beautiful portrayal of Indian culture and dance paired with the excitement of a first crush and young love.

About Doris Sander

]]>Guest Post | 6 Middle Reader Novels in VerseInterview | Catherine ChungAuthor InterviewReading WomenWed, 26 Jun 2019 10:00:00 +0000https://www.readingwomenpodcast.com/blog/interview-with-catherine-chung58435fdf37c581d99d8c1f43:5872f28d8eaa89f320593d84:5d0460fa90be8d0001602376Autumn and Kendra talk with Catherine Chung about her new book The Tenth
Muse, which is out now from Ecco.

Autumn and Kendra talk with Catherine Chung about her new book The Tenth Muse, which is out now from Ecco.

Books Mentioned

Author Bio

Catherine Chung was a 2014 National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, a Granta New Voice, and a Director's Visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. She has an undergraduate degree in mathematics from The University of Chicago and worked at a think tank in Santa Monica before receiving her MFA from Cornell University. She has published work in The New York Times and Granta and is a fiction editor at Guernica Magazine. She lives in New York City. For more information, please visit: www.catherinechung.com

Books Mentioned

]]>Ep. 68 | Where the Line Bleeds and HeartlandInterview | Namwali SerpellAuthor InterviewReading WomenWed, 12 Jun 2019 10:00:00 +0000https://www.readingwomenpodcast.com/blog/interview-with-namwali-serpell58435fdf37c581d99d8c1f43:5872f28d8eaa89f320593d84:5cfababd3e082c00011f634fAutumn and Kendra talk with Namwali Serpell about her new book The Old
Drift, which is out now from Hogarth Books.

Autumn and Kendra talk with Namwali Serpell about her new book The Old Drift, which is out now from Hogarth.